OPENERS: SUITS; THE LADDER UP TO FORTUNE AND FAME

By PATRICK McGEEHAN

Published: June 18, 2006

If he had not chosen Frankie Valli to entertain some Merrill Lynch stockbrokers back in the 1970's, Joseph J. Grano Jr. would not have been on stage at Radio City Music Hall at the Tony Awards last week.

Mr. Grano, a longtime executive on Wall Street, helped to finance ''Jersey Boys,'' a Broadway show about Mr. Valli and the Four Seasons, which won the Tony for best musical.

The show's backers were on the verge of recouping their investment before the award, said Mr. Grano, who received credit as a producer. With the show's run having been extended into mid-2007, it could be ''one of the all-time greats in terms of commercial success,'' he said.

A onetime broker at Merrill Lynch who went on to be president of the PaineWebber brokerage firm before UBS bought it, Mr. Grano said he befriended Mr. Valli and his songwriter, Bob Gaudio, about 28 years ago. Mr. Grano has been a financial adviser to the musicians and a few years ago helped to underwrite another musical by Mr. Gaudio, ''Peggy Sue Got Married.''

That show, which opened in London in 2001, never made the leap to Broadway, in part because the 9/11 attack in New York made it too commercially risky. But Mr. Grano has not given up hope for ''Peggy Sue.'' ''If I were to do another one,'' he said, ''it would be that one.'' PATRICK McGEEHAN

Photo: Joseph J. Grano Jr., in bow tie, praises Frankie Valli at the Tony Awards after ''Jersey Boys'' was named best musical. Christian Hoff, right, won the award for best featured actor in a musical. (Photo by Sara Krulwich/The New York Times)